At once a comprehensive health and fitness companion, an extremely precise and customizable timepiece and an intimate way to connect and communicate, the Apple Watch is what Tim Cook describes as “the most personal device we’ve ever created.”

The key development with Apple Watch is the Digital Crown. The Digital Crown allows you to scroll, zoom, and navigate Apple Watch without covering the display. It’s a versatile tool that answers the fundamental challenge of how to magnify content on a small display – you can magnify content, scroll through lists and messages, and make selections. All without obstructing the screen.

With a flexible Retina display the Apple Watch is laminated to a single crystal of sapphire, the hardest transparent material after diamond. It is Apple Watch is built from custom alloys of stainless steel, aluminum, and 18-karat gold. With bands as thoughtfully designed as the watch itself in leather, metal or plastic. There are a range of watch faces and millions of ways to personalize them.

The Home screen looks familiar, but it’s a new experience designed for the Apple Watch display.

You can receive and send messages in amazing ways — from your wrist. You can send preset phrases, smart responses based on your conversation, audio messages, your location — even interactive emojis. Apple Watch also has Siri so you can dictate a message, check your calendar, find the nearest coffee shop, and more. Maps doesn’t just show you the way, it guides you to go right or left with a tap.

Apple Watch comes with two apps that give a complete picture of your health and fitness. The Activity app monitors movement throughout the day while the Workout app tracks dedicated workouts. A custom sensor measures intensity by tracking your heart rate. It also has an accelerometer to measure body movement while the GPS and Wi-Fi in your iPhone help track your distance.

Apple Watch requires either an iPhone 5, 5c, 5s, 6, or 6 Plus. It will be available in 3 versions – Apple Watch, Apple Watch Sport, and Apple Watch Edition. Available early next year starting at $349.

The iWatch may be arriving sooner than anyone expected. With the announcement of the upcoming iPhone 6 introduction at Apple’s September 9 iPhone event, reports have been made that the tech giant will also unveil its iWatch, a wearable version of the latest smart technology. First reported to be arriving later in October, the launching of the iWatch coinciding with the arrival of the iPhone 6 signifies a bold move on Apple’s part as it transitions to a new generation of tech devices.

Q Designs today announced the launch of its flagship product, the QBracelet – a stylish, lightweight jewelry piece designed for both men and women that has the ability to charge smartphones and other electronics. Relying on a a connector that lies within the bracelet’s clasp, wearers have the option of two configurations: micro-USB for Android or similar devices, and an Apple Lightning connector version for Apple devices – resulting in a rechargeable lithium-ion battery boosts that gets drained devices an additional 60% of battery life depending on what is being charged.

“The QBracelet has the fashionable look and feel of a jewelry piece before anything else – even if it didn’t charge your phone, it stands as a fashion accessory based on its style and design alone,” said Alessandro Libani, co-founder and COO of Q Designs. “We conceptualized the QBracelet based on the idea that every useful object should also be a beautiful object, and we believe that merging technology with fashion in smart ways will push the fashion industry forward.”

Lightweight, elegant and crafted from the highest quality materials, the QBracelet premier collection is available in brushed and matte black, polished and matte silver, and polished gold and comes in small, medium and large. Consumers can pre-order for $79 USD at Qdesigns.co.

No strangers to agenda-setting audio technology, B&O PLAY have followed up their much-lauded A9 home speaker with the new S8 system. Comprised of two 2.5-inch satellite speakers and one weighty 8-inch sub woofer, the S8 uses AirPlay technology to link wirelessly to almost any device you can point at it, providing flexible, high-definition audio without the need for clumsy cables. Aesthetically, it’s no accident it looks as smart as it does, having been conceived by award-winning Danish industrial designer Torsten Valeur. The housing for each unit is crafted from a single piece of aluminum, ensuring both acoustic fidelity and a sleek, unblemished appearance, while the speakers themselves can be wall-mounted almost anywhere in the home. Available in physical Bang & Olufsen stores and via the B&O PLAY website, the S8 goes on sale across Europe this August, so look out for it soon.

Apple plans to launch the iWatch, a touchscreen watch will run the newly minted iOS 8 and bring with it a series of apps and extensions from Apple’s pre-existing ecosystem that has embraced fitness and tracking. Other rumors mention two sizes are in the works, 1.3 inches and 1.5-1.7 inches, both of which should start production in September for an October launch.

“Nothing delivers a feeling of immersion better than VR. VR has been a dream of many gamers since the computer was invented. Many of us at PlayStation have dreamed of VR and what it could mean to the gaming community.”

The headset, codenamed Project Morpheus, will be exclusive for the PlayStation 4, and it promises to provide the most immersive gaming experience ever. Think: a 1080p LCD screen, a 90-degree field of view, and integration with the PS Move for motion control. It’s currently limited by a 5-meter cable, but Sony hopes to make it wireless

The virtual reality set was announced at the Game Developers Conference in an event that featured a genius by the name of Richard Marks, who developed EyeToy and PS Move. Marks said he had been working on a project with NASA to create a virtual reality Mars—I’m not joking—and told the audience,

“VR is going to be pervasive, and what I mean by that is it’s going to be used for all sorts of things you might not think it would be used for.”

Clark Kokich has built a career helping brands master digital technology. So it’s only fitting that Kokich, the chief strategy officer at Marchex, former Razorfish CEO, and author of Do or Die, has created 20/20, the world’s first narrative live-action short film shot with Google Glass. The five-minute movie, which follows a day in the life of a young man through his Google Glass, makes a powerful statement about personal privacy and the power that technology assumes in our everyday lives. For as long as I’ve known him, Clark Kokich has always been fascinated with the way that digital technology can both disrupt and shape the way we live and do business.

20/20: romance competes with technology. Which will win?

In the following interview, he discusses the themes of 20/20 (a product of his film company, Perché No?) what it was like to make a movie with Google Glass, and his views on technology and privacy (including his opinion of Edward Snowden). Check out what’s on his mind — but more importantly, take five minutes to watch the provocative 20/20. This movie will make you think.

What inspired you to make this movie?

Last spring I was having coffee with Margaret Czeisler, global vice president of the Razorfish xLab. She pulled out a Google Glass for me to try. It was the first time I fully understood the power of the technology. Then, as I was driving home, the idea for the film just popped into my head. I more or less wrote it in my mind in the car and typed it up when I got home.

In the movie, Google Glass is omnipresent, and not always for the best. Where do you think Google Glass is headed in the next few years?

It’s hard to say. I used to work at Code-A-Phone, a company that made telephone answering machines. Remember those? Our biggest issue was confronting the backlash from people who became pissed off when they had to leave a recorded message.

In the 1990s, I worked for Cellular One. At that time, cell phones were regarded as a smug status symbol. “What kind of an asshole takes a call in their car?” We’re seeing that kind of backlash right now with Google Glass. And I suppose this film doesn’t help, does it? But who knows what will happen.

In the end, if the technology solves a real problem, people will get over it. Right now, I don’t think Google Glass solves an obvious problem in the same way answering machines and cell phones did.

The movie’s subtext about spying is obviously quite timely, with Edward Snowden recently speaking at the 2014 SXSW Interactive festival. What’s your view of Snowden? Hero or a traitor?

I do think he broke the law, and there should be consequences for that. But I don’t consider him a traitor. If I had to guess, 50 years from now he’ll be regarded as an important historical figure; someone who took a huge risk – and sacrificed everything – so that the rest of us could know what the hell is really going on.

I could relate to the scene where the protagonist is multi-tasking too much with technology at the expense of the people in the room with them. How do you avoid that happening in your own life?

I’m actually pretty good about that. I’ve never used technology just because it’s new and cool. I can admire it, and want to learn more, but I’m not an automatic adopter. I also think it’s important to be doing the things that are important to you, not that are important to others. For instance, if I’m on the road, I don’t answer emails on my phone just because they came in. My fingers are too big for that kind of nonsense. If something’s critically important, maybe. But for the most part, I decide what’s important to get done right now, and I only concentrate on that. Just ignore everything else.

What was it like shooting a movie in Google Glass? What did the experience teach you?

It was a pain in the ass. We tried to monitor the shooting in real time through an iPhone, but doing so was too clumsy. So we ended up shooting a scene with no idea what we were really getting. Then we had to wait to download the file and check it on the computer. If there was a problem, you had to start over. It took forever.

What’s next for your filmmaking?

We’re going to shoot another short this summer. This one is more serious. No more Google Glass fun and games.

PhoneSoap uese ultraviolet light to clean your mobile devices in less than four minutes. No heat, liquid or harmful chemicals are required. This device fits just about any smartphone and is currently available in black and white for $59.95.

You know why people still listen to the radio? Some of them enjoy a steady diet of de-virginized Disney stars, but most just want to listen to music without the hassle of actively DJing. And that's the basic idea behind the Aether Cone wireless speaker. Twist the bezel around the speaker's front edge and the Cone starts playing...well, something. No need to sync up your phone, launch an app, or agonize over which of your 214 playlists to fire up. Cone just plays. And learns.

Tucked inside the Cone is an eight-hour battery, Wi-Fi, and a brain. Turn on the Cone, and it’ll play a podcast, an Internet radio station, maybe music from your streaming service of choice (Aether hasn't specified yet, but think Spotify, Rdio, etc.). Don't like what you hear? Twist the bezel a little, and the Cone skips to something new but similar (say, from Kanye to Chance the Rapper); spin the bezel like a roulette wheel and it'll play something radically different (goodbye Kanye, hello This American Life). The Cone remembers what you listen to, and what you skip. It supposedly learns when and even whereyou listen—that you like news podcasts in the morning in the kitchen and Stevie Wonder on Sunday afternoons in the living room. In other words, the Cone is essentially something you’ve probably never heard: a radio that actually plays what you like.

Pre-order the Aether Cone (due out later this summer) for $399 at aether.com.